Affordable housing is one of the five main priorities for the New Brunswick Liberal government.

New Brunswick’s Liberal Leader plans to apply pressure on the provincial government in the upcoming Legislative session.

Susan Holt says there need to be more tangible actions taken now, with urgency and creativity to address the challenges, “Instead of putting $300 million into a savings account to generate interest, think about the 1200 units that could have been built with that $300 million.”

She adds the provincial government is late to the game and is missing out on recognizing the role that non-profits, cooperatives, community organizations and municipalities can play.

“You can go to Woodstock, or Quispamsis, St. Stephen or Moncton and hear from organizations that have been working on this issue for years. The government has come forward with a private sector-driven approach as opposed to a community-driven approach to address the challenges that new Brunswickers are expressing is in their top priorities,” Holt says.

She adds that a broad group of New Brunswickers are concerned about affordable housing, including the economic sector.

“Businesses who want to grow and are looking to bring people to this province are looking around and saying where’s the housing and where’s the healthcare that my new employee will get? Businesses getting into the housing business with Labour housing. It’s a broad broad issue and so far the government has put out a very narrow set of solutions. And I’d like to see a lot more done a lot quicker,” Holt states.